| What
do you like about Greater Bakersfield?
What are our strengths? |
|
|
|
| Location: close to oceans, mountains, urban, easy access to world,
central |
49 |
| Friendly, caring
people, community spirit, volunteerism |
41 |
| Family oriented-Good place to
raise family/emphasis on children |
28 |
| Weather-moderate
temperatures/8 mos. Ideal weather/summer nights/no snow |
27 |
| Affordable housing |
25 |
| Low cost of living |
24 |
| Open space/Ag land |
23 |
| Downtown
redevelopment/streetscape, revitalization |
22 |
| Relatively
light traffic, uncongested, short commutes/no real L.A. jams |
20 |
| Kern River Parkway |
20 |
| Small city-small town
character/atmosphere/people work together |
19 |
| CSUB |
18 |
| Educational opportunities:
CSUB and Bakersfield College |
17 |
| Good, abundant water |
13 |
| Cultural diversity (including
religions) |
12 |
| Kern River runs through
Greater Bakersfield |
12 |
| Cultural activities –
theatre, performing arts |
11 |
| Lots of opportunity for
outdoor recreation |
11 |
| Long-lasting, family owned
businesses |
10 |
| Centennial Gardens |
10 |
| Nice neighborhood
parks/accessible and clean |
10 |
| Bakersfield Business
Conference |
9 |
| Diversifying economy |
9 |
| Community events:
street fairs, jazz concerts, Up on the Roof |
9 |
| Unique transportation
structure: air, rail, trucking |
7 |
| Not Los Angeles-no urban
sprawl |
7 |
| Beautiful city- unencumbered
vista/scenery & sunsets/good place to come home to |
7 |
| Nice older neighborhoods |
7 |
| # high school in state |
7 |
| Quality of life |
7 |
|
Great community college: Bakersfield College |
6 |
| World leader in agriculture
-Greatest Ag area in world |
6 |
| Youth activities-social,
educational, sports |
6 |
| Law enforcement agencies
strong and do an excellent job, safe streets |
6 |
| K-12 education great |
5 |
| Mesa Marin & Buttonwillow
Raceway |
5 |
| Slow rate of growth |
5 |
| Accessible public officials/govt
mentality easy to work with |
4 |
| The Marketplace |
4 |
| Crystal Palace &
“Bakersfield“sign/"Nashville West" |
4 |
| Good Churches |
4 |
| Good, affordable, variety of
restaurants |
4 |
| Arts still in schools/Music |
4 |
| 1950's architecture |
4 |
| Good local banks |
4 |
| Lots of spectator sports |
4 |
| Responsive government |
4 |
| Petroleum industry |
3 |
| Community minded
people-charitable giving (compassionate community) |
3 |
|
Fox Theater |
3 |
| Good road conditions |
3 |
| Public/private partnerships |
3 |
| Good medical facilities |
3 |
| Good sized metro moving to a
big town in a good way |
3 |
| Geographic diversity |
3 |
| Tree Foundation |
3 |
| Trees/increasing green |
3 |
| Affordable, solid workforce
base |
3 |
| Good city planning |
3 |
| Pockets of individuality |
3 |
| Easy to start up businesses |
3 |
| Division #2 sports |
3 |
| Room to grow |
2 |
| New Soccer Park complex |
2 |
| Good place to retire |
2 |
| Great affordable golf courses |
2 |
| Dewars |
2 |
| Attractive to large companies |
2 |
| Antique stores |
2 |
| Nice wide Blvds-well
maintained |
2 |
| Calcot-largest marketing coop
in California |
2 |
| Kangeroo Rat & Kit Fox |
2 |
| "Can do" attitude |
2 |
| International Trade &
Transportation Center (ITTC) |
1 |
| Basque restaurants |
1 |
| Hart Park |
1 |
| Downtown school |
1 |
| Baseball stadium project |
1 |
| No local utility/inventory
taxes |
1 |
| 6th fastest growing
population in California |
1 |
| 2nd largest snack food
plant-Frito Lay |
1 |
| State Farm-jobs |
1 |
| Museums: Kern County Museum,
CALM, Bakersfield Art Museum |
0 |
| Good public transportation
– GET |
0 |
| Housing developments with
lakes in them |
0 |
| Public swimming pools |
0 |
| Largest ice cream factory in
the world |
0 |
|
|
| What are
Greater Bakersfield’s key weaknesses?
What don’t you like? |
|
|
|
| Poor air quality, air
pollution |
45 |
| Urban sprawl/uncontrolled
development/residential encroachment on ag land; |
45 |
|
lack of in-fill/ hopscotch development/old, incomplete dev.
Surrounded by new |
|
| City-county cooperation/lack
of coordination in planning & permitting |
31 |
| Poor
planning-Hwy 58/Freeways to nowhere; Poor downtown (East-West)
freeway |
18 |
| No long range plan/lack of
adequate planning for growth/planning process |
17 |
| Insular govt processes/lack
of open govt at all levels/unresponsive |
17 |
| Increasing gang activity |
14 |
| Lack of P.M. activities/lack
of activities for adolescents |
13 |
| Antiquated airport (small)
& air service |
12 |
| Poor image/Negative
perception by outsiders/reputation |
11 |
| Potential for limited water
supply/lack of planning |
11 |
| Backroom politics-interest
groups too powerful |
9 |
| High rate teen pregnancy |
9 |
| Lack of trees |
9 |
| Litter |
8 |
| Some congested roads; traffic
flow; lack of freeway |
7 |
| Number of blighted
neighborhoods (downtown & E.Brundage) |
7 |
| Lack of economic diversity |
7 |
| Abandoned
buildings/businesses |
7 |
| Infrastructure around city is
inconsistent |
7 |
| Low priority of
education/lack of emphasis |
7 |
| No ag or engineering schools
at CSUB |
7 |
| Hate crimes in school |
6 |
| Unattractive freeway
appearance, 99
corridor |
6 |
| Inability to attract and keep
major businesses |
6 |
| Water
contamination/environmental contamination |
6 |
| County trying to provide
metro services/duplication of services |
6 |
| Overbuilding
homes/retail/offices/strip malls-lack of managed growth |
6 |
| Schools need power to
discipline |
6 |
| Inconsistent development
(streets/parks) |
6 |
| High unemployment rate |
5 |
| Farm land conversion/lack of
preservation of ag lands |
5 |
| Lack of transportation
planning-mass transit |
5 |
| Hazardous waste dump |
5 |
| Too strict environmental
policies |
5 |
| Poor political accountability |
5 |
| High residential and
commercial vacancies-growth without demand |
5 |
| No "sense of place"
within the city |
5 |
| Lack of public involvement in
development (out of town developers) |
5 |
| Lack of enforcement of
appearance standards-RV/boat parking |
5 |
| Lack of jobs with competitive
salaries |
5 |
| Underperforming schools K-12;
educational achievement below state avg. |
4 |
| "Ghetto"
mentality=keep the problems in "those" neighborhoods |
4 |
| Pedestrian unfriendly |
4 |
| Not enough trade
school/vocational education-need school-industry cooperation |
4 |
| Better curriculum |
4 |
| County “islands”/pockets
in city limits |
4 |
| Abandoning older areas-lack
of historical preservation |
4 |
| Schools not open
enough-insufficient use of facilities |
4 |
| Slow redevelopment of poorer
areas |
4 |
| Timing on stoplights/not
synchronized |
4 |
| Drug traffic |
4 |
| Need more than one newspaper |
4 |
| Poor condition of public
roads and lines |
4 |
| Need more aggressive teach of
English |
4 |
| Misuse of redevelopment $$ |
3 |
| A volunteer city council/not
paid |
3 |
| Low education level |
3 |
| Valley Fever |
3 |
| Lack of
accountability-disbursement of funds-Kern Co. Fair (poor fairs
& facilities) |
3 |
| Insufficient resources for
non-profits |
3 |
| No recycling program |
3 |
| Congested, unattractive
Rosedale Hwy |
3 |
| Too many unuseable autos
(visible) |
3 |
| Not enough technology in
schools |
2 |
| Not enough affordable child
care |
2 |
| High gas prices |
2 |
| Poor public transportation |
2 |
| Lack of planning for high
school boundaries |
2 |
| Lack of police and sheriff
coordination |
2 |
| Annexation process |
2 |
| Weak communications between
public and govt. |
2 |
| Lack of support for the arts |
2 |
| Not enough affordable
healthcare |
2 |
| Poor use of Kern River
resources |
2 |
| High incidence of poverty |
2 |
| City street lights |
2 |
| Child abuse |
2 |
| Children in poverty-25% |
2 |
| Not training children to have
pride in community appearance |
2 |
| No housing for transient farm
workers on farms |
2 |
| Too rapid growth |
1 |
| Lack of consideration by
landowners bordering major thoroughfares |
1 |
| Students need access to
useful information |
1 |
| High "speed limits" |
1 |
| Union Avenue-unattractive |
1 |
| Not enough street sweeping |
1 |
| Poor business environment-not
helpful |
1 |
| Need professional sports
teams |
1 |
| Giant gap between rich and
poor |
1 |
| Poor advertising for
city/lack of promotion of benefits |
1 |
| Lack of enforcement of green
card regulations |
1 |
| Waste of natural gas from
flares |
1 |
| Too many movie theaters |
0 |
| Need Aquatic Center |
0 |
| Lack of affordable housing |
0 |
| Overzealous D.A. |
0 |
